Little Miss Sunshine, Hearts and Minds, Head, Hold On!, & Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter

I saw Little Miss Sunshine at a free preview on Wednesday. Yay for free movies. It was also a good movie. Yay for free good movies. Actually, it was a great film. Steve Carell and Paul Dano and Alan Arkin and Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear and Abigail Breslin were a very good dysfunctional family. There was a considerable danger of the film becoming just way too quirky, especially the scene in the hospital, and of course all the coincidences that just happen to come out on a cross New Mexico, Arizona, and California trip was somewhat bothersome. But these were just small complaints, as any movie that ends with that kind of scene at a beauty pageant was nice. Beauty pageants are evil, and child beauty pageants are vastly more evil. So disturbing. Although I'm not sure about how appropriate that last scene was, but oh well, it lead to a happier family, which was nice. And it was weird to see Mary Lynn Rajskub in a small role. I'm so used to seeing her on TV, and parts with lines. Not too many for her in this one. Although really, I just thought of Rush Limbaugh and that was disturbing.

Hearts and Minds is strangely more important and a better look at Vietnam than many films with a lot of distance from the conflict. I'm not sure about that scene in the whorehouse, seemed a little gratuitous for me. A very important film, and one that more people need to see. An outstanding film. And even better with the knowledge that John Wayne denounced it. What a good sign for a film. Stupid right-wing ass.

Head is bizarre. And it leads to some funny misunderstandings, like when I said, "I apparently need to be on drugs to fully appreciate Head." Yay for silly things. Well, pretty much everything in it is bizarre. And there's a lot of very clear drug influences, and there's anti-war statements as well. Not as sure about the soundtrack, as really the only song I was familiar with was The Porpoise Song. Well, you'd have to be a huge Monkees freak to know any other songs from the soundtrack. At least there were lots of cameos... because what a disjointed drug movie really needs is a way to make people think, "Whoa, that's Frank Zappa." At least it's more obviously a joyous mess than Magical Mystery Tour, which pretty much only had a better soundtrack than this. But this movie was just a movie for people on hallucinogens, which really takes me out of the intended audience. And of course, watching lots of movies just leads to strange coincidences like the fact that Bert Schneider, producer (and Oscar winner) for Hearts and Minds also produced Head. And Five Easy Pieces, The Last Picture Show, and Days of Heaven. Not a bad bunch of films. Well, except for Head. And of course, this movie that seems like a bad trip and is clearly very drug influenced was rated G. Of course.

Hold On! is a movie I have wanted to see for a long time. For some reason it's very hard to just come across a Herman's Hermits film on TV. Or get someone else who wants to watch it. Of course it's terrible. Nowhere near as good as A Hard Day's Night or Help!, which the film shamelessly apes at every chance. At least it's utterly ridiculous. And they barely moved during the songs. No stage presence. At least they tended to have a lot of women in 60s clothes dancing around them. Seriously, Herman's Hermits make almost no impact on the movie. Whoever decided to use the same screams and make them alternately loud and absolutely quiet doesn't really understand how this all works. You don't have a screaming mass of girls just go silent and then all start at once. And an 18 year old Herman just can't be the center of a film. Man, this depresses me. Stupid guilty pleasure. Certainly not the movie.

Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter finishes off my little manufactured 60s pop group movies. It's just as ridiculous as Hold On!, but with the added bonus of being shot in lovely 60s Manchester. Such a beautiful town. Oh, but there is a song about Manchester United and Bobby Charlton, It's Nice To Be out in the Morning, which does elevate it over Hold On! As little as that means. Slow movie though, and the writer didn't write anything else ever, so there goes that. It feels more like a movie rather than an excuse to string songs together. Too bad the acting from the Hermits is just as bad. The lower emphasis on songs would only work if the rest of the film made up for it, which it doesn't.